History or Narration Concerning the Manner
and Form of the Miraculous Parliament at Westminsterin the year 1386, in the tenth year of the
reign of King Richard the Second after the Conquest,declared by Thomas Favent, Clerk

Translated by Andrew Galloway

1. Since, by custom, ancient and long durations fatally seep away from
human beings’ fleeting present memories, urgent reason has admonished me
that, in however childishly inept a way, I should undertake to compose
for posterity an account in formal written proceedings of certain extraordinary
events that not long ago transpired in England. Let it not be disgusting
to bring to mind and commit to memory such things which, if every diligent
reader would heed, he would have a mirror, in part, for more easily avoiding
adversities, scandals, and the dangers and burning torments of death. I
will not therefore allow it to remain delighting in the secret den of silence,
how a monstrous sin of this sort, starting from certain people who were
smothered in the embers of avarice and burdened by the weight of crimes,
thereafter raced through England.

2. During the year of our Lord one thousand three hundred and eighty
six, at a time when in the tenth year of his reign King Richard, the Second
after the Conquest, was cavorting in the glens of his youth, a certain
archbishop of York, Alexander Nevill by name, Robert de Vere, duke of Ireland,
Robert Tresilian, chief justice of the lord king, and Nicholas Brembre,
knight and former mayor of the citizens of London, were governors and close
councillors of the king, living in vice, deluding the said king, concerned
neither with the king’s nor the kingdom’s business but embracing the mammon
of iniquity for themselves through much wickedness. Under their shadow
of sins the king is made a pauper, such that, lo! by raising taxations
and impositions, the kingdom is lacerated with great wounds. Because of
such things, countless adversities were fostered in the kingdom. Perceiving
that such things were falling utterly into perversity, the lords of this
kingdom, to direct the kingdom into the way of peace, urged the king to
hold a parliament on the day after the next Michaelmas. In this parliament
the aforesaid Michael de la Pole, chancellor of England, was dismissed
from office on the grounds of his usurpations and extortions, and having
given back every round ring he is driven off to Windsor, and all his properties
are confiscated in reciprocation for the extortionate fines he devoured.
Nonetheless they did not yet disturb the aforesaid other councillors of
the king, but in the same parliament, by the mutual assent of the king
and of all the lords, justices, and commons, a commission was given to
the below-written lords of the kingdom: to the archbishop of Canterbury;
the said archbishop of York; the bishop of Ely, then chancellor of England;
the Bishop of Winchester; the Bishop of Hereford, then treasurer of England;
the Bishop of Exeter; the abbot of Waltham; the lord John Waltham, keeper
of the privy seal; the duke of York; the duke of Gloucester; earl Arundel;
Lord Cobham; and Richard Scrope and John Devereux, knights: that these,
by the power of this commission and of a certain ordinance and statute,
succeeding by possession to full power of the king and parliament in this
matter, would correct the stupid madness of rebellions and order, counsel,
and execute all business of the king and the kingdom, with annual judgments,
pledging with their hands on the Gospels that they would observe the aforesaid
things well and faithfully. And if anyone aroused the king to contravene
the aforesaid ordinance, for the first offense the penalty imposed would
be confiscation of all good; for the second, loss of life and limb. Thus
disposing all matters for the better, with the parliament concluded, all
departing from there returned to their own affairs.

3. But, one might ask, then what happened? The aforesaid imprudent councillors
with others of their companions are inflamed by the torches of wrath on
account of the aforesaid things of the parliament being published and ordained.
With the parliament’s ordinances soon disseminated, they gathered rapidly
around the king, and overshadowing him more than usual with illusion, they
incited treachery in the heart against all those first moving and ordaining
the aforesaid ordinance, commission, and statute to come into being and,
according to them, thus derogating the king’s prerogative, and by shredding
the royal power even the king would not be as usual able to give gifts
by any free will of his to anyone, unless first these had been determined
by a council of the commissioners at Westminster. Under pretext of these
things, with the devil—who does not forget their ends—persuading them,
those hardened by evil days strove iniquitously by clandestine councils
through many unheard of frauds and deceits to nullify all these things,
and to have the aforesaid commissioners with their other adherents drawn
in the death of traitors, under the form that follows.

4. First, they blinded the guileless king by the conversations from
their serpents’ mouths, with ambitions, adulations, lascivious words and
praises, such that, ensnared by all their poisonous conspiracies and desires,
he adhered by agreement, thinking they were disposing everything for the
best; and they abhorred the councils and propositions of the said commission
at Westminster as if these were treason. Also, the king, struck by love
of the praises and illusions of the aforesaid men, begifted them in many
ways, as well as their followers under the pretext of receipts of brokerage:
he gave John of Blois, the captive heir of Brittany, as he claimed, to
the said duke of Ireland; and to certain others castles, towns, and lands;
to others, however, jewels and monies, all of which sums reached 1,500
marks, in a heavy cost to the king himself and the kingdom. Not even at
that point did the devourers themselves give thought to the condition of
the king or the kingdom, but thus carrying on in their ways of life, thus
depredating with their greedy brokerage receipts, they set up insufficiently
competent captains in the said castles and towns, whose naive armed force
was totally destroyed, and which finally was seized into the hands of their
enemies, an event that had never been seen before, from time out of mind.
Also, denigrating the condition of the royal dignity in violation of their
allegiance, by which the king alone should be of free condition beyond
all others, they swore by the power of a certain oath and made the king
submit himself as oath-swearer, that, by the strength of his body and of
royal power, in prosperity and adversity, he would sustain and defend them
against all who opposed or resisted them. Also, whereas by the ordinance
of the aforesaid parliament he was to sit at Westminster with the council
of the commissioners at various opportune times, those detractors drew
the said king by persuasions to the more remote nooks of the kingdom, to
the harm of those faithful commissioners in whose hand then resided the
kingdom’s power and vitality. Nonetheless when many—the chancellor of England,
the treasurer, and the keeper of the privy seal, and at other times certain
others from Westminster with the commissaries of those same officials—made
their way over hill and dale toward the king, they could reveal nothing
concerning their acts and counsels by informing or speaking to the king,
publicly or privately, except in the presence of those detractors or their
deputies, and thus with the acts and counsels always being reported by
those, the detractors were more easily able through this to minimize things
contrary to those interests, and to increase with their own elaboration
things that accorded with their interests.

5. What more? When, travelling towards the regions of Chester, Lancashire,
and Wales the aforesaid fools took their way making their rounds through
all parts to lords, knights, squires and commons capable of bearing arms,
giving golden signs of a simulated sun and silver crowns to retain these
men, everywhere at the king’s expense the retainers intemperately hasten,
so that, prepared in their attack, they might especially assail the said
commissaries: the duke of Gloucester, the earl of Arundel, and the earl
of Warwick, since these more decisively than the other commissaries were
set on curtailing their plans. Also, judging the aforesaid commission and
statute to be null, they caused the said duke of Ireland to be ordained
chief justice of Chester. Immediately, he along with them sometimes bending
to the right, sometimes to the left, framed the order of judgments according
to the complaints of money, releasing those deserving punishment, confiscating
the goods of others, punishing still others in place of the guilty. Also,
through the procurings of scoundrels, through the brokerages and gifts
of those who were egregious tormentors, they impeded certain innocents
who did not wish to adhere to them, so that they would be less able to
prosecute their law, by aggravating them with immense delays, the exhaustion
of journeying, and many kinds of expenses. But some, harassed through writs
to appear, others through imprisonment, still others through threats of
death, they retained under their control, giving them the sign of the aforesaid
sun and crown. Also, for destroying the said commissaries and their associates
they retained thieves, robbers and felons, who were illegitimately freed
from their convictions of felony and other crimes by charters and patents
of pardon. Moreover, notwithstanding that for ages lapsed from memory the
land of Ireland was regarded as the patrimony of the king of England, the
aforesaid duke of Ireland, baselessly wishing to be sublimely exalted,
was created king of the said land of Ireland, for confirmation of which
letters of the king were sent to the highest pontiff. Also, the aforesaid
Nicholas Brembre, holding office of mayor of London for a single day, seized
by force twenty-two men, some appellants of felony, some convicted felons
but chaplains, arresting them under the pretext of diverse transgressions
and imprisoning them in Newgate in London, in the silence of night. And
having been led, bound fast, in Kent to a place popularly called Foul Oak,
by his hot ferocity and without a sound of judgment, mercilessly, in red
rivers from their veins they died, through a capital punishment entirely
springing from him, except for one man who by chance escaped safe under
the guise of an excuse. Also, a certain one of the said detractors, with
the king’s innocence untainted but nonetheless under his name, went to
London at an appointed time, there declaring before certain crafts of the
said city delusory intentions and propositions, led the said crafts by
flattery and deceits into vice, by making them swear that they would observe,
sustain and defend the will and proposals of the lord king and themselves,
prepared whenever they were asked by the said Nicholas Brembre that they
would fight to the death by force and arms to punish all who were disobedient
and opposed to the king and to the royal power. With the precipitous decline
of the times adding evils to evil, they sent out a royal letter to the
mayor of the citizens of London by a courier, the clerk John Ripon, with
a certain writ under the king’s secret seal folded into the said letter,
whose import along with the letter was that the three aforesaid lords,
namely the duke and two earls particularly, and other commissaries were
to be indicted in London in the county of Middlesex for high treason and
false conspiracy aimed at the king; then they were to be arrested, condemned,
and subjected to the cruel death of traitors, and their lineage was then
to be disinherited in perpetuity, because the aforesaid ordinance, commission,
and statute in derogation of the king’s and the crown’s prerogative had
been prejudicially ordained through them, and by their goading and ordering
the king to consent under coercion to those things. At once the mayor and
the aldermen of the said city of London called a common council concerning
what should be done about this matter, and these men, with arguments mounted
for and against, arrived at unanimity, that it should be well understood
that they did not want to accept any part of this thing nor did they want
that mandate to be carried out. Meanwhile, since a bad thing leads to worse,
and soon by its own weight pulls down another evil onto itself and that
evil a third and so on, the aforesaid fools, inflamed by recklessness,
clandestinely transmitted by John Golafre, knight, a royal letter to their
enemy the king of France, requesting to contract at Calais or somewhere
nearby a five-year truce, in this way, namely that our king of England
would there apply himself to deceptively framing the said fraudulent truce,
then our king would send for the said duke of Gloucester, the earls of
Arundel and Warwick particularly, and certain other commissaries, as if
not wishing to do anything without their counsel, and thus surrounded,
they would be treasonously slaughtered by horrible torments as false traitors
to the king and kingdom. And for ensuring the completion of these things,
the said adversary of France would regain in return for this matter all
castles, towns, and properties pertaining to the king of England in those
regions. And for more fully proving that these things are true, very many
safe-conducts from the said king of France, our adversary, were sent here
for transporting our king and his favorites there; these safe-conducts,
now collected into the hands of the said commissaries, are ready to stand
in witness to this at any time whatsoever. Moreover, beyond those letters
of that date, other letters of the king directed to the king of France
were intercepted from a courier, which are further witnesses. These letters
indeed included encouragement to the king of France to make his way into
England with a great force, to attack the said three lords and the other
commissaries and all those authorizing or favoring the said ordinance,
commission, and statute to be created in derogation of the king’s and his
rank’s prerogative, and villainously to destroy them, and, by consequence,
the English people and language, by surrendering them to a cruel death.
Who has ears for hearing, let him hear.

6. Moreover, laboring in the devil’s vineyard with indefatigable minds
and always vigilant, while they were in regions far from Westminster’s
council in a castle of Nottingham they sent by writ for Robert Bealknap,
chief justice of the common pleas; John Holt; Roger Fulthorp and William
Burgh, justices of common pleas; and John Lokton, the king’s sergeant at
law, striving to make them associates of their frauds, and when they had
compassed these, ignorant of what they were about to do, there in a council
chamber with the king and said five traitors present and the doors locked
they proposed many questions to them, in the following way. First, whether
the new statute, ordinance and commission created and published in the
preceding parliament at Westminster, did not derogate the king’s royal
prerogative. Also, how those who had procured it to be made should be punished;
and how should be punished those who had excited and compelled the king
to consent to those; and how should be punished those who impeded him so
that he was less able to exercise his prerogative. When these and many
other things had been asked, they responded unanimously to the individual
questions that those ought to be punished either as traitors or that they
merit being subjected to capital punishment. To all of this testimony the
aforesaid justices, along with John Cary then lord chief baron of the Exchequer,
compelled as they claimed by a legitimate fear of death, applied their
seals for those present, "with these as witnesses: Alexander Nevill, archbishop
of York; the archbishop of Dublin in Ireland; Thomas the bishop of Chichester;
John the bishop of Bangor; Robert the duke of Ireland; Michael earl of
Suffolk; John Ripon, clerk; and John Blake knight. Given on the fourteenth
day of the month of September in the year of our Lord one thousand three
hundred eighty seven, and the eleventh year of the reign of Richard, second
after the Conquest." Then the ones who had been coerced, as they asserted,
swore to hide the council, telling nobody of it under pain of death, and
they departed.

7. And when these traitors were scheming these and many other diabolic
things to destroy and enervate the aforesaid ordinance, commission, and
statute, by mutual consent maintained among themselves, they affirmed by
oath that they would entirely preserve all these diabolic things. And along
with those, what is worse, they made the king swear with them, that, in
his own person, by his bodily and royal power insofar as he was able he
would take vengeance against the aforesaid duke and earls and their other
adherents by dragging them to a bitter death. The deeds of all these things
may be more easily recognized if the periods of time and the order are
observed. But our Commiserator and merciful Lord, although so many sorrows
and torments had been fostered in the kingdom of England on account of
the multifarious masses of our sins and crimes, not wishing to take vengeance
abruptly but instead to take pity and tolerate still others, as thus driving
away our languor, and in order to alleviate the exhausted spirits of the
faithful commissaries and cure our anxious sorrows, inspired the hope of
strength and understanding in the souls of the said three lords, namely
the duke of Gloucester and the earls of Arundel and Warwick, who, after
they had been suspecting for all this time some sort of evils to occur
by the said traitors, ordered to be sent cautiously through all parts of
England messengers and spies so that they might take and retain all royal
letters and their couriers whosoever, to whomsoever the letters were directed
or sent, delivering the letters to wherever the commissaries were in England
without delay. Once thus done, the outcome of things proved the merits
of this, in so much as they examined and understood every counsel for the
entire year of those imprudent ones, every traitorous proposal in the substance
of the letters recovered—glory to God in the highest, and peace to men
of good will on earth!—and by this manner of action they considered the
kingdom to be at the point of destruction, according to the Gospel saying,
"every kingdom divided against itself will be destroyed." According to
the sanctions of law, it is legitimate for everyone to respond to violence
with violence; and since it is better to anticipate a problem beforehand
than to seek a remedy after a wound has been inflicted, in safe-guarding
of the king, the kingdom, and their own lives they raised up the people,
each of them from his own area, until by everyone’s estimate the full number
reached twenty thousand men ready for defense, as ones proposing to infringe
by force the diabolic propositions of the aforesaid traitors and to soften
by explanations their fervid hearts, harder than iron and impervious to
divine approval.

8. And since the fame about the earl of Arundel’s army was from the
first made audible and clear, how with his force he shifted around at night
near the regions of London, he lay quiet hiding in woods and forests until
a time convenient to him might appear, there awaiting the arrival of his
accomplices. Not by injuring anyone did he and all of his men live, but
instead they purchased their foods and other necessaries at full market
price. They were almost unable to keep the popular community quiet and
prevent them from rising with them by their own keen desires, as those
bent on destroying the said false lords along with their adherents. Meanwhile,
the said false lords, striving to obstruct their purposes with a certain
spiritual commission by the power of ancient letters patent in their keeping—the
effect of whose proclamations was at that time not at all at the butt-end
of things to that extent, but was only for blinding the people of the city
of London—did not fear to have it proclaimed in the king’s name that no
one should seem to be so bold, under pain of forfeiture of all goods, to
sell, give or exchange, publicly or privately, any goods, any kind of arms,
or any other necessities to Richard earl of Arundel or any his men, but
rather to refuse and reject giving to him and his men, as rebels to the
king, any manner of sustenance, comfort, or refreshment. Nonetheless, they
somewhat feared the scorn of future generations; and both because the assistance
they hoped to get from the mayor and commons of London might be refused,
and because of that new insurrection of men advancing toward them, with
turbulent heart they counseled the king to distance himself from the parliament
at the next feast of the Purification of the Blessed Mary, the starting
date of parliament that the king and the said commissaries had previously
appointed, and not to involve himself in any business of the kingdom or
himself, in any commodious or incommodious matter, any loss or danger,
unless first the three aforesaid lords and the other commissaries would
swear an oath that, while holding that parliament, neither they nor anyone
else in their name would propose or put in motion anything concerning the
commission against them. And they had it proclaimed through the city of
London that no one, under pain of confiscation of goods, would seem by
any means to promulgate or narrate anything sinister or shameful about
the king or any of his adherents, which was indeed nearly impossible to
prevent.

9. After a brief time elapsed, it happened that the king with the aforesaid
five false lords took their way from the manor of Sheen toward St. Edward’s
shrine at Westminster for the sake of fulfilling a pilgrimage. Soon the
aldermen and commons of the said city, in a sizable following of men, encountered
him on horseback in a gathering, giving him special honor. And when he
had arrived at a place commonly called the Mews, a little ways from his
palace, he made his pilgrimage from there barefoot to St. Edward at Westminster,
and the chaplain of the said commissaries along with the abbot and convent
of the said monastery met with him in procession, singing.

10. But meanwhile, the aforesaid three lords, that is the duke and two
earls, with their forces gathered on the same Sunday, that is the fourteenth
day of November of the same year, at Waltham Cross in Hertford county,
sent for other commissaries remaining with the king in the palace at Westminster.
There, in writs, they appealed the aforesaid five false lords, namely the
archbishop of York, the duke of Ireland, the earl of Suffolk, Robert Tresilian
and Nicholas Brembre, on the crime of high treason, and they volunteered
that they would prosecute their appeal, and moreover that what they indicted
would be legitimately proven, under pledge of their goods and those of
competent oath-givers; and they made all the other commissaries to be inserted
as part and appellants into their appeal; then they requested them to relate
those things to the king. And when a deed of this kind resounded in the
king’s ears, he sent to them seeking what would be their plan and intention,
and they sent a response stating, "It is of concern for the public weal
that certain traitors hanging around you be fittingly rejected and punished,
since it is better that certain ones die for the people than that the entire
nation perish." They also requested that they might converse together coming
and going with entire safety. Then the king, with their will understood,
in reply ordered them to come; and when they had come to Westminster, and
the king was sitting on his throne in the Great Hall in the midst of his
commissaries, the said three lords appellant with a huge multitude of people
entered the hall and there, with both knees bent down they greeted the
king, bowing very submissively three times. And with again the case set
forth, in the manner and form by which they had earlier presented it at
Waltham Cross, they appealed on the crime of high treason the said archbishop,
duke, earl, Tresilian and Brembre, who at that time were all hidden in
the palace, having betaken themselves into obscure strong rooms and shady
dens there, just as Adam and Eve anciently did from God, not having the
heart to be taken. At once the king accepted the said appeal for trial
and prosecution, fashioning for them a day in the aforementioned parliament
to be held on the day after the next Purification of the Blessed Mary.
But in the meantime, the king put both parties with their goods and their
retained men under his special protection, for the purpose that none of
the others would cause trouble until the following parliament, a circumstance
that was frequently proclaimed publicly throughout all regions of England;
and they went away consoled.

11. The aforesaid duke of Ireland, however, with the devil his leader,
made his way to the regions of Chester, Lancashire, and Wales and there
raised without difficulty from the men in his confiscated retinue a new
kind of power in the king’s name, numbering six thousand fighting men,
for attacking and destroying the aforesaid lords appellant. With no royal
protection preventing him, he along with his army bent his path toward
London with a raging clamor, contemning the peace at the king’s expense;
his heart, foolish and hateful to God, grazed on vain hopes. Meanwhile,
the vigorous and commemorated appellants were apprised about his raging
rabble in the nick of time. Adjoining to themselves by reason of affinity
the earl of Derby and the earl of Nottingham, and those who had been made
consorts of the said appeal, lest one might reckon expensively the long
stretches of tireless labors, with their armies they pursued them to a
field next to the town of Whitney at the place commonly called Radcot Bridge.
In this field the aforesaid duke of Ireland with his army, having a stream
of water to their side, prepare themselves for fiercely fighting and destroying
the said lords appellant, unfurling there the king’s standard in violation
of the statutes of England. But since those fiercer in the beginning are
broken in the end, when they saw the ranks of the said five vigorous appellants
everywhere pouring from the hill and turning around them like a swarm of
bees, fear seized them. And stupefied when they charged—yet God did not
want the spilling of blood or the mutilation of members—they stood as if
leaderless, or a herd without a head, giving no occasion or appearance
of resisting. Immediately they with all their goods and arms were stripped,
and the armies handed them over as if conquered; but since very few were
killed and only some drowned while fleeing, the hearts of the cruel ones
are instantly softened. The duke of Ireland, however, striking his horse
with his spurs took to the river. He evaded the danger in this way, and
amazingly, although certain ones pursued him they nonetheless lost him.
And thus thanks to God, those vigorous appellants in strengthening of the
state of the kingdom received the palm of victory in this manner, supported
by angelic assistance.

12. When the deed resounded in the ears of the other traitors lying
hidden with the king in Westminster, in the hush of night they immediately
fled very fearfully along the Thames into the Tower of London for better
safekeeping. Nonetheless, the aforesaid Nicholas Brembre, with a stiff
and stern expression, in the king’s name caused continual watches to be
held in order to exclude the said five vigorous appellants from passing
through any gate of the city of London by armed force by day or night.
However, the said implacable vigorous appellants with their forces headed
to London to address the king. Yet when it came to their ears how, through
the said Nicholas Brembre, the gates of the said city were guarded by constant
watches for repelling them, and when they pondered whether or not the said
city would resist them at their arrival, they wavered in mind. In a camp
therefore behind Clerkenwell in the territory of the same city, on the
twenty-seventh day in the month of December of the same year, each of the
said lords appellant with his army, with a sweet harmony of diverse instruments
as prelude, properly prepared himself for the manner of war. They did not
wish to enter the city with an abrupt or bold temerity, in a chance event,
nor to refrain because of overwhelming fear, but to enter with sober mind,
such that wisely and with good deliberation in their own good time they
might accomplish all things well. The mayor and citizens of the city through
inviting conversation and cheerful expressions, comforting and pleasing
them, helped them continually, saying that they might enjoy for their use
and at their disposal all things in the city within reason and equity,
whereupon the duke of Gloucester said, "Now I know truly that no one can
prevent liars from telling lies." Soon with mutual consent given, and evening
pressing in, for more abundant security each one of the lords was hosted
separately with his army before diverse gates around the city. But behold
how great an altercation between the king and the said lords appellant
broke out on each side before they could address in discussion the mutual
intentions of their hearts: on the one side, the king shrank from speaking
to so great a mass of men, lest perhaps the intolerable savagery or distance
between the parties, namely theirs and the king’s, might nearly break out,
so he did not want to talk with them beyond the Tower anywhere by any means,
and he refused disdainfully to do so. On the other side the appellants
themselves did not wish to address the king there, unless they might be
able to enter there with a strong and secure band of men to avoid betrayal
and danger. Therefore, the most learned of the other commissaries, after
conflicts on each side of the disputations and with documentation of the
reasoning, dissolved the hardened heart of the king like ice on a sunny
day, such that, adhering to them in that measure, he took care to bend
himself to every desire and wish of the vigorous appellants. But nonetheless,
the aforesaid lords, lest anything perverse should fraudulently happen,
prudently sent a competent band of armed men to investigate in advance
every dark hiding place of the said Tower, along with its nooks and corners.
Upon their report that no fraud had been found within there, the aforesaid
vigorous five, with what one might call a large force, entered the said
Tower and, appointing one as door-keeper and having the doors closed on
command, and thus for the time being with those in charge of the said Tower
before the king and commissaries, they appealed the said fugitives for
the third time and in the manner and form stated above. Driven by this
appeal, the king voluntarily offered an oath on his soul that he would
adhere by confirmation to them and the counsel of their commissaries, as
a good king and just judge, in as much as the order of law, reason and
equity demanded. After these things were seen and done, departing the Tower
into the city they returned to their lodgings, keeping continued watch
during the nights. And it was proclaimed, not only in the king’s presence,
but also throughout the regions of England that the aforesaid fugitive
traitors, as men definitively summoned, on the established day of parliament,
that is the day after the next Purification of the Blessed Mary, should
personally appear ready to respond to the aforesaid falsely deceptive treachery
according to the charges.

13. And since the harvest stood seasonably ready at that time for cutting
and extirpating thorns, thistles, and tares, by the ratification of the
king and the mutual consent of all the said commissaries and appellants,
many officials were expelled from the king’s household, namely, in the
place of John Beauchamp, steward, they appointed John Devereux, knight,
one of those appointed from the commissaries, and Peter de Courtney, knight,
was ordained in the king’s chamber in place of the said duke of Ireland.
But the aforesaid John Beauchamp, Simon Burley, vice-chamberlain of the
king, John Salisbury, door-keeper of the chamber, Thomas Trivet, James
Baret, William Elmham and Nicholas Dagworth, knights, and other clerical
officers, namely Richard Metteford, secretary, John Slake, deacon of the
chapel, John Lincoln, chamberlain of the exchequer, and John Clifford,
clerk of the chapel, because they behaved as accomplices in the aforesaid
crimes, in that they were informed about them and did not contradict them,
and because they desired these things to be done, are mandated to be put
under arrest in diverse prisons of England until they would respond in
parliament to the things charged. But they dismissed many others, especially
their servants and others, as useless and foolish men, throwing them out
to be vagabonds. And thus a most filthy nest perched in a certain tree
was shattered as completely as possible, and its birds, wounded most foully,
dispersed in flight.

14. On the vigil of the following Purification of the Blessed Mary,
in the king’s chamber at Westminster, by the shared counsel of all the
commissaries, the aforesaid Robert Bealknap, John Holt, Roger Fulthorp,
William Burgh, John Locton, and John Cary are removed from their offices.
Arrested without any debate in order to respond elsewhere fully to the
charges, by order of the chancellor they are thrust, stunned and terrified,
into the Tower; and in the place of Bealknap, Robert Carleton, in the place
of Tresilian, Walter Clopton are installed in the offices of judges. Then
for a brief time, with the new incumbents having been given the burdens
of office and accepted by all, and swearing the oaths of office, they departed
to take dinner.

15. And since the period of Lent, in accord with the history of this
matter, is a time appropriate and acceptable to correct and punish delinquents
according to their merits, a great parliament was therefore begun on the
second day of the following February in this manner. When everyone of both
estates, lords and potentates of this realm, having congregated in the
White Royal Chamber at Westminster, the king arrived and took his seat
as tribunal; and the five most noble and commemorated appellants, whose
own merits of probity resounded everywhere in the land, striving to climax
prosperous beginnings with a prosperous outcome entered the hall with a
great multitude in the same suit of golden clothes, each holding another
by the arm; and gazing at the king they saluted him in unison, kneeling.
There was a single mass of men filling the hall even into its corners.
But what bit of the said false lords or of their adherents, prithee, was
found anywhere there? Nicholas Brembre, having been taken earlier elsewhere
is remanded to be driven savagely into the prison of Gloucester. When therefore
according to ancient parliament custom the laity on the left and the clergy
on the right of the king had taken their seats, the chancellor standing
in full view with his back to the king pronounced a certain speech, touching
on the causes and matters of the parliament, categorizing these according
to tradition. When this was complete, the aforesaid five lords, rising
up, recorded their prefatory words by way of Robert Plessyngton, a prudent
knight, who said, "Behold, the duke of Gloucester has come in person, for
purgation of himself concerning the treason charged against him by the
said fugitives." The chancellor, taking a response from the king’s mouth,
answered, excusing the said duke, "Lord duke, you would be casting off
your origins from so worthy a royal lineage; you are so near to him in
collateral line, we find, that for such things to be schemed by you would
not be suspected." The aforesaid duke with his four associates, very humbly
kneeling on their knees, thanked the king. Then silence was imposed, and
the commemorated lords produced in writs the articles of the accusation
concerning the aforesaid treachery. Geoffrey Martin, clerk of the crown,
stood before them in the middle of the parliament for a period of two hours,
swiftly reading the aforesaid articles. The hearts of some were stricken
with sorrow at the horrific contents of the said articles; many had swollen
faces with tears on their cheeks. With the reading of the articles concluded,
they benignly demanded the king that a just sentence should be imposed,
one suited to the aforesaid false deceit according to how it was alleged
and to how it would be proven, and indeed that there might be a due execution
of this sentence against the persons of the said fugitives; and the king
promised these things. So much for the first day. The day after they were
stirred by counsels producing nothing, and therefore I will proceed not
according to the days but rather I will only touch the larger deeds of
the parliament.

16. When therefore on the third day they had come for their proceedings
against the said fugitives, the chancellor of England, in the name of the
clergy, alleged in full parliament that they would not by any means involve
themselves in cases of this sort nor wish to take part in any moment when
judgment of blood is pursued. And to confirm these things the clergy issued
a written protestation, by which when read publicly they said that they
were asserting this not by reason of favor or fear of hatred or of reward,
but seeing as the sanctions of the canons and all laws persuade and compel
clerks to refrain from impiousness of this sort, they wished to preserve
those things. In the chapter house also of the abbey knights of the affinities
had gathered to discuss their counsels and materials, for whom they sent
to notify them too of the said protestation. Meanwhile, the said protestation
notwithstanding, the five aforesaid lords petitioned to pass sentence against
the four contumacious ones, condemning them. And when the said lower commons
had arrived faster than the word, although the protestation was given out
and read through before them too in the same way, the aforesaid five nobles
did not cease to petition against the said contumacious ones. The clergy
soon arose, and for the time being departed into the annex of the king’s
chamber. The king, however, moved by a charitable conscience, discerning
that in the work of all things it is good to be mindful of the end, and
according to the requirement of law to favor the defendant rather than
the plaintiff, carried over the proceedings, to see if something on the
part of those absent might meanwhile be alleged or juridically recounted.
But the lords, irritated, supplicated the king that no case already in
process, or taken up for the first time, or coming up later should be moved
by any means, until the present case of treason should be finally put to
rest; to whose petition he gave his gracious assent.

17. At length, on the eleventh day of February, when nothing on behalf
of those absent might be alleged to prevent that grave sentence of condemnation
from being definitively rendered, the aforesaid John Devereux, marshal
of the court, holding the place of the king, judged that the aforesaid
archbishop, duke, earl and Tresilian should be drawn from the Tower of
London through the city to Tyburn, then without delay hanged on the gallows
and all their goods confiscated such that later successors might not rejoice
in them.

18. And on the twelfth day of February, which was the first Monday of
Lent, when the aforesaid Nicholas Brembre was made to appear, with certain
articles proposed and read through before him, he requested a copy, and
council, and a day for the sake of deliberating better how he would respond
to them. And although what he sought was neither an equitable or customary
thing, nay further against the rigor of the law, in so grave a criminal
case we would have allowed the tiniest matter construably in his favor:
had he begged in vain, it would have been imposed on him to answer the
charges strictly. For it is read that he answered, "Whoever has charged
me with these things, I give witness that I am present here ready to prove
by battle with him in the arena that these same things are false." And
Brembre said these things terrified that he would die in excruciating pain
in the manner of traitors, and would prefer to expire as a knight fighting
in arms than scandalously through the parliament’s condemnation. Immediately
the commemorated appellants with stern visage declared, "And we ourselves
give witness and offer ourselves that we are ready to prove by battle with
you in the arena that these same things are true." And they threw their
gauntlets at the king’s feet; and at the same instant from everywhere in
the place flew gauntlets like snow from the other lords, knights, squires,
and commons, who declared in one voice, "And we pledge a duel for proving
on your head that the things said are true." Quicker than speech the king
departed for the day. And although these things were not left unconsidered
among the sleepers, nonetheless on the next day, as an even heavier matter,
appeared many of the crafts of the city of London complaining about many
injuries and extortions torturously committed and carried forward against
them elsewhere by that same Nicholas Brembre. And since the crafts themselves
swore on their souls that they were not corrupted by hatred, fear, or favor
of anyone or any reward, nor were they declaring these things maliciously
but rather were accusing him concerning the truth, Brembre then stood undone
at last.

19. But before they had argued to the finish the end of the trial against
Nicholas Brembre, the hapless Tresilian occupied their attention. He had
been located above the gutter of a certain house annexed to the wall of
the palace, hiding among the roofs the sake of watching the lords coming
and going from parliament. However, when resolute soldiers had entered
that house and looking around found no one, a certain knight with intent
expression strode to the father of the house and pulled his head up by
the hair, drawing his dagger, saying, "Show us where Tresilian is or your
days are numbered." Immediately, the terrified father of the household
said, "Behold the place where that man is positioned at this moment," and
under a certain round table which was covered for deception with a tablecloth,
the unfortunate Tresilian, disguised as usual, was miraculously discovered.
His tunic was made out of old russet, extending down to mid-shin, as if
he were an old man, and he had a wiry and thick beard, and wore red boots
with the soles of Joseph, looking more like a pilgrim or beggar than a
king’s justice. This event was immediately made clear to the lords’ ears,
and when, quicker than a word, the aforesaid five appellants under a hasty
pretext left the parliament without explaining the reason for their departure,
all who remain in parliament were stunned, and many others followed them
with passionate zeal. And when at the palace gate they had seized Tresilian,
leading him toward the parliament, they proclaimed in a universal voice,
"We havet hym! We havet hym!" Meanwhile, interrogated in the parliament
how he would excuse himself concerning the false treachery of this kind
and other things done by him, he remained nonetheless stock-still and mute,
his heart hardened even in the face of death, and he would not confess
to the things committed. Immediately parliament was broken for the sake
of this matter, and on the grounds of dealing with Tresilian they sent
away for the day Brembre, who had remained present. And at once Tresilian
was led to the Tower of London so that execution of his sentence might
be carried out on his person. His wife and daughters, moaning and imploring
weepingly, were present at hand there in that place, and with voiceless
requests, kissing him first from one side then the other, they forgave
him for one or another of the crimes he had committed. But she, overwhelmed
with sorrow in her heart, fell to the ground as if dead. At length Tresilian
was bound hand and foot to a hurdle, and along with a vast multitude of
lords and commoners, horsemen and pedestrians, he was dragged from the
back of horses through the city squares, resting at intervals of about
the length of a furlong out of considerations of charity, to see if he
wanted to repent anything. But alas, he did not publicly confess, and indeed
it is not known what he would say to his friar confessor, nor has it been
ours to discover: the friars well treated Tresilian, preserving him from
his transgression. And when he had come to the place of Calvary that he
might be made defunct, he did not want to climb the stairs but goaded by
sticks and whips that he might ascend, he said, "While I carry a certain
something around me, I am not able to die." Immediately they stripped him
and found particular instructions with particular signs depicted in them,
in the manner of astronomical characters; and one depicted a demon’s head,
many others were inscribed with demons’ names. With these taken away, he
was hanged nude, and for greater certainty of his death his throat was
cut. And it became night. And he was left hanging until the next day and,
with permission for carrying away his body sought and obtained from the
king by his wife, it was taken to the Franciscans and is there buried.

20. On the next day a sentence similar to that of the four condemned
was given against Brembre, and when he was drawn from the Tower through
the city on a hurdle to Tyburn, resting at furlong intervals he gave great
penance, beseeching mercy from God and men against whom he had sinned in
past times, and many commiserating prayed for him. And when the noose was
put on him so that he might be hanged, the son of Northampton asked him
whether the aforesaid things done elsewhere to his father by Brembre were
legally done. For Northampton was formerly a mayor of the city of London,
a richer and more powerful citizen among all those who were in the city,
and through certain ones, associates who were death-bearing plagues, namely
Brembre, Tresilian and others, was enormously vexed by certain nefarious
conspiracies and confederacies then condemned to death, and with all his
goods stripped hardly escaped alive. And concerning those things Brembre
confessed that neither piously nor justly but with a violent heart for
the sake of destroying Northampton he had infelicitously committed those
things. And seeking forgiveness, hanging by the rope, he died when his
throat was cut. Behold how good and pleasant it is to be raised up to honors!
It seems to me better to carry out business at home among paupers than
be thus lordly among kings, and at the end climb the ladder among thieves;
since it is more a matter of onerousness than honor to assume the name
of honor. You who are reading, look down to regard him, and you might be
able to consider by their ends how their works receive results. For in
every work be mindful of the end.

21. Following this they did not proceed to judgments of death of this
sort but instead, until things were riper, undertook business of the kingdom
that they had taken to heart. They ordained for the noble earl of Arundel
the admiralty of sea, to resist and intercept enemies if he was able to
encounter them by land or by sea; and thus it was done. Also, the bitternesses
of heart and the burdened and anxious thoughts between the king and the
appellants, if any existed, they graciously swept away by the sweet encouragements
of the commissaries, and for the confirmation of this they added by compact
that the king would host the appellants at dinner and they would individually
host him, as example and notice to the people concerning the firm concord
and true friendship that was finally purified between them. And all these
things were fulfilled and there was great joy among the people.

22. Returning anew to the fearful judgments of this sort, to the parliament
were led Thomas Usk and John Blake, on the fourth day of the month of March,
also the fourth holy day of Passion week. These two, although of simple
rank, had nonetheless both been forced as accomplices into the aforestated
treacheries with the aforesaid potentates. For Usk was a sergeant at arms,
and inserted among the traitors in that by his performance in most recent
days he had been made sheriff of Middlesex for the sake of indicting the
lords appellant, and he indicted other commissaries and adherents as traitors
in their actions. Blake was Tresilian’s adjunct, and was often found coming
and going as a referendary on behalf of completing the treacheries and
matters of the said five condemned men. And when in judgment they could
allege nothing on their behalf to make exception, that grave sentence is
given against them and, just as their masters before had earlier made procession
to death, they too, fulfilling the same reward of fate, were led to the
Tower. At once, at the same time but separately, drenching the neighborhoods
with their flesh in the manner usual for traitors, they came to Tyburn
and there immediately went to rest between the gallows. But the privilege
is given to the truncated head of Thomas Usk, after he was hanged, of being
pecked by birds’ beaks above Newgate in London.

23. Later in the proceedings, on the sixth holy day of Passion week,
they gave attention in parliament to the aforesaid judges, Robert Bealknap,
John Holt, Roger Fulthorp, William Burgh, John Locton, and John Cary, lord
baron of the Exchequer, concerning their counsel and deed as noted above
against all the commissaries and as adherents in the evil hours at Nottingham.
And, since it was not necessary to declare single things against them individually,
they are condemned all six in a judgment like the prior ones. The clergy,
however, while the laity were deciding the death sentence of this kind,
rose from parliament and entered the king’s private room in order to converse
with him. And when a word had been spoken by them about the scandalousness
of the death of judges, the archbishop of Canterbury, the bishop of Winchester,
the chancellor, treasurer, keeper of the privy seal with the whole group
of clergy, with a heavy heart and light foot, appeared in parliament presenting
a tearful complaint; and bowing to the king’s feet they supplicated him
very humbly, exhorting the king and lords of parliament that for the love
of God, of the glorious virgin Mary, and of all the saints, as they themselves
in a bitter judgment elsewhere would rejoice in pity, that they cease and
desist totally from the death of those judges present there and most bitterly
weeping there, in whose and from whose sense and heads the font, pith,
and wisdom of the laws of England thrived, emanated, and was drunk up.
There was immense sorrow, especially among the parties of those complaining
and those condemned. The duke of Gloucester, earls of Arundel, Warwick
and Nottingham and many other soft hearts joined with them in mourning.
Immediately, by virtue of the complaint of the clergy the execution against
the persons of the judges ceased, and life was given to them again by the
king. But what happened after concerning them I will say further below,
for they were remanded to the Tower under close guard.

24. Shortly after this, that is, on the twelfth day of March, a Thursday,
it happened that the aforesaid knights, Simon Burley, John Beauchamp, James
Baret, and John Salisbury had been led into parliament. The things to be
alleged were soon alleged, the things to be proven proven, and they not
able to excuse themselves. Yet all the way from that time nearly to the
Ascension of the Lord the parliament was vexed solely by the case of the
said Simon. For the united trinity of the three lords appellant, namely
the duke of Gloucester and earls of Arundel and Warwick, along with the
whole commons of parliament, insisted that the just judgment in accord
with how the matters were alleged and proven against the person of Simon
himself should be firmly carried out. However, from the other side, the
king, the queen, the earls of Derby and Nottingham, the prior of St. John,
his uncle, and many others from the greater members of the lords of parliament
labored assiduously on behalf of his life. Therefore, since the said commons
is exhausted by so long a time in labors and expenses attending parliament,
and as it was likely that their long expectation in parliament would not
be brought to effect, they requested that the king release them so that
they might freely depart from parliament for their own business, and in
the future, when matters did not pertain to them, not to disturb them by
giving the reason for such fatigue in future times that some misfortune
had been fostered unexpectedly in the kingdom. There was tumult among the
lower commons in diverse regions of England, for example in Kent and its
vicinity: because of Simon, an insurrection had silently risen up. At once
everyone on both parties of this Simon, declining from their pleadings,
immediately desisted. Finally, on the next Wednesday before Ascension,
that is, the fifth day of May, sentence was given against only Simon, namely
that in the manner of his predecessors he be drawn from the Tower to Tyburn
and, after being hanged, that his head be amputated from his body. But
because he was a Knight of the Garter, powerful and humane in his behavior
and pleasing, a relative of the king and always found in his court, therefore,
at the urgings of many lords, the king out of his special grace in imposing
the execution of the said sentence relaxed it, mitigating it in so far
that Simon was only led to the earth wall at Towerhill in London where,
repentant, his head truncated, he suffered his death throes.

25. On the twelfth day of May, that is on the next Wednesday before
Pentecost, were similarly condemned John Beauchamp, steward of the king,
James Baret, and John Salisbury, knights of the chamber, whose end, that
is, John Beauchamp’s and James Baret’s, was just like Simon’s: with heads
truncated, they died at Towerhill. John Salisbury, however, was drawn from
Towerhill to Tyburn in the manner of his predecessors, then he received
his sentence of hanging. On the same day the bishop of Chichester, the
king’s confessor, was condemned with them, but on account of his dignity
the execution of judgment is entirely relaxed, even so far as preserving
his life. But when they began to abhor the horrible torments of this kind,
of the death of fellow Christians, they grew mindful of other important
matters of the kingdom, such as the war with the Scots and the French,
and for the circuit of one year the king’s subsidies of customs from wine
and wool. Also, concerning certain translations of bishops; since, after
it had intoned into the ears of our pope Urban VI that the said archbishop
of York was condemned, to remove all suspicions of irregularity in his
favor, he decreed that Nevill would be archbishop of St. Andrews in Scotland,
which archbishopric was indeed under the power of the enemy Scots and at
that time in the gift of the antipope. And the pope sought to have granted
in tribute to him half of the tithe of England in his subsidy for sustaining
his wars, but he was not able to acquire it. He shrewdly recalled, therefore,
that something could come to him through certain translations of bishops,
and thus in the event he transformed his request concerning a subsidy of
this kind into what was construably a common right: he ordered the bishop
of Ely, then chancellor of England, to succeed to the archbishopric of
York, in the place of his condemned predecessor; and the bishop of Durham
into his place, the bishop of Salisbury into his place, and lord John Waltham,
keeper of the privy seal, into his place—all these he wished and mandated
to sanctify. And thus by this manner transmuting alternately one into the
place of another he provided by canon law for himself the first taxes through
translations. When in the same parliament news about this pope’s mandates
had come to the ears of the English, they debated energetically concerning
this matter among other business of the kingdom, because so great an amount
of money on the pretext of these translations would be transmuted from
England without any remuneration. But their argument did not prevail in
parliament since the clergy had not spoken against the pope’s mandate.

26. In the Octave of Trinity, that is on the last day of the month of
May, on behalf of closing parliament in the customary manner, the king
honorifically convened a parliament at Kennington; then on the Wednesday
following they concluded the matters previously touched and not yet put
to rest: namely to Thomas Trivet, William Elmham, and Nicholas Dagworth,
knights, Richard Metteford, John Slake, and John Lincoln, clerks, with
worthy pledges given that elsewhere before parliament or the king’s council
they would be ready personally to appear to respond to charges, free power
was given by grace to go in the meantime at their pleasure wherever in
England might seem convenient to them. And so far as the aforesaid judges
it was discussed and ordained that all six, along with the bishop of Chichester
who as is said before was convicted and condemned among them from the day
of the order of those present, with induciae given up to St. Peter ad Vincula,
should be each located in his region of Ireland, in the manner that follows:
namely that the said Robert Bealknap and John Holt in the town of Drogheda
in Ireland should there live not in the role of a judge or an officer,
but a derelict and deportee. The said Robert Bealknap could not travel
beyond a space of three miles beyond the said town, and John Holt a space
of two miles, on pain of execution of the said sentence previously borne
upon their persons. The king, from his particular liberality, would contribute
forty pounds annually to Robert Bealknap and forty marks to John Holt for
their disposition during their lifetimes. Roger Fulthorp by the king’s
gift would have forty pounds and William Burth forty marks during their
lifetimes for sustaining them in the town of Dublin in Ireland where they
are deported in a similar manner, except that Roger Fulthorp might enjoy
a circle of three miles, William, if he did not stay within two miles,
would suffer the penalty noted above. The aforesaid John Cary and John
Locton, both with twenty pounds during their lifetimes from the king’s
retribution, in the town of Waterford in Ireland exist similarly deported,
not able to go beyond a boundary of two miles under the penalty noted.
The bishop of Chichester to the town of Cork in Ireland in a similar manner
then deported exists on forty marks from the king’s donation during his
lifetime, not exceeding a two-mile limit under the incumbent penalty. Behold
men who did not place God before their gaze! You who read, examine how
evil things, begun by evil beginnings, hardly are completed in any good
conclusion. Wherefore, in all works, remember the end.

27. On the third day of June in the abbey of Westminster, with the arrival
of the king, queen and all lords and commoners of both lay and clerical
estates in conclusion of the parliament, the bishop of London (because
it was in his diocese) celebrated a mass. With the mass ended, the archbishop
of Canterbury delivered a splendid speech concerning the form and danger
of oath-giving. With this completed, although the king previously at his
coronation had taken on his soul the oath of kings, and the homage and
oaths of lords of the realm and community in due manner had been made to
him. Nonetheless, partly because he took the oath in a youthful state,
partly on account of uprooting and dissipating concerns and stirrings of
the heart both on the part of the king and on the part of the lords, he
solemnly renews that same oath in the manner and form by which he took
it in his coronation with the homage and oaths of the lords. With these
things done, the said metropolitan of England with all the supporters there
present, with the candle lit, excommunicated under one cloak all and sundry
in themselves or through others contravening or impeding such that by however
much the less anything and everything in the said parliament mandated,
put to rest, or concluded might not stand firm and be effective in its
force and authority; and he extinguished the candle. The chancellor then,
extending his hands, made all the commons vouch in faith and observance
of the aforedone things as faithful lieges well and faithfully preserving
the aforesaid. And this form of observance of parliament was solemnized
through the whole kingdom. On the next day, that is the fourth of June,
with mutual greetings held among the king, lords and commons, each one
freely returned to his own affairs in his own region. Now let England,
rejoicing, exult in Christ, since by his scars, and by our filthy, bitter
remains, the snare [noose] is thoroughly destroyed, and we are free,thanks
to God, etc.